The best open world games 2018

There's so much variety in open world games, how do you know which is the best for you? We've rounded up our selection of the best open world games right now.

Gaming has come a long way in the past 10-15 years – look at how much has changed between the original Tomb Raider games and the Shadow of the Tomb Raider to see what we mean. Graphics are sharper, gameplay is more fast-paced, and developers can create vast, detailed open worlds that simply couldn’t have run on previous generation consoles or older PCs.

There’s so much variety in open-world games too, from survival games that pit you against the environment to RPGs with a never-ending questline.

But with so much available, how do you know which is the best open world game for you? Don’t worry, we’ve rounded up our selection of the best open world games right now – keep reading to find out more.

Red Dead Redemption 2

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Red Dead Redemption was a phenomenal open world game for its time, and is one of few games that has stood the test of time, so it should come as no surprise that Red Dead Redemption 2 has set a new standard for open world games.

The open world of Red Dead Redemption is sprawling and varied, but it’s the finer details of the open world that make it feel real. You can have impromptu conversations with passers-by, intimidate witnesses to crimes to avoid becoming wanted and, when you want a little R&R, you have can hunt over 200 species of animal, go fishing or play dominoes with other gang members at camp.

The random events seen in GTA 5 have made a comeback, but are more varied and dynamic than ever before. We’ve been stopped by outlaws trying to rob us, we’ve helped a woman being attacked in her home, we’ve helped convicts escape prison carts and more. It makes you want to explore the world and discover the intricacies of the open world Rockstar has created. And with over 500,000 lines of audio recorded for the game, there are some amazing conversations to be heard while on your travels.

Combine those intricacies with some of the most detailed, gorgeous environments and weather systems we’ve seen in any game and you’ve got as close to a perfect open world game as you’re going to get in 2018.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

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Zelda’s Breath of the Wild is incredible – even more so when you consider that the entire open world can be explored while on the go with the Nintendo Switch. Link is resurrected after 100 years of Ganon ruling Hyrule, and you’re tasked with taking him down however you can.

Explore the open world, find items and skills that let you take on ever more powerful monsters and hone your craft before going head-to-head with some of the deadliest characters in the Zelda franchise. The game will point you in a specific direction to follow the main questline, but you can completely ignore that and strike off wherever you like. The map is broken into 15 main areas, each of which is uncharted until you scale the tower at its centre.

Simply put, the game and world both feel absolutely massive, and we can easily believe that Breath of the Wild is up there with the best when it comes to mammoth runtimes in an expansive open world.

Assassin's Creed Odyssey

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Assassin’s Creed Odyssey is the biggest game in the AC series so far, set in a sprawling ancient Greek world that encompasses both the mainland and countless islands both large and small.

Playing as either Alexios or Kassandra - your choice, for the first time! - you'll embark on your own personal odyssey across Greece, currently caught in the throes of the Peloponnesian War. You can choose to help either side - or neither - as you fight to find out the truth about your family and stop a corrupt cult that may be pulling the strings of the whole conflict.

The world is packed with caves and ruins to explore, bandits and animals to fight, and military camps and forts to sneak your way through. Picking off military targets in each region can even trigger huge Conquest battles with hundreds of NPCs fighting at once, encouraging you to get stuck into the war effort as you go.

The island setting means there's a naval emphasis again. Not only do you need to sail the Aegean Sea on your trusty ship the Adrestia, you'll also use it to wage naval war, or as a diving platform to explore underwater caves and shipwrecks for long lost loot.

If the Greek setting doesn't do it for you, the slightly older Assassin's Creed Origins is definitely still worth checking out too - its Egyptian locale is just as rich and vibrant, and well worth exploring.

GTA V

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Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto series has got to be one of the most popular game franchises of all time, and GTA V was no exception. The open world of San Andreas was expanded upon in GTA V, providing a 50km square map with everything from a busy city to a sprawling mountain range and everything in between.

The real beauty of GTA V isn’t in the graphics (although it’s visually stunning) but is rather in the design of the map and NPCs. You could eavesdrop on every single NPC in GTA V and hear a totally different conversation relating to the area that they’re in, or what they’re doing. You can’t say that about a lot of games, and it’s one of many examples of Rockstar’s level of detail.

The level of detail that Rockstar achieves, offering everything from unique and entertaining NPC conversations to weird radio adverts and an impressive range of activities you can take part in, makes the open world come alive and more importantly, makes you want to discover what might be hidden within.

Plus, once you get bored of exploring alone, you can head to GTA Online and explore the same map with a whole lobby of online players. What’s not to love?

No Man's Sky

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Yes, you read that right - No Man's Sky is one of our favourite open world games available right now. While the game had an *ahem* luke-warm reception at launch back in 2016, Hello Games has spent two years working on the game and has subsequently launched several pieces of free DLC that dramatically change just about every part of the game.

In essence, it's unrecognisable from the original game. There's now so much more to do in the incredibly huge No Man's Sky universe than simply planet-hop; you can build bases, explore planets using several land vehicles, instantly teleport between planets and manipulate terrain. And that's only the tip of the iceberg.

The No Man's Sky NEXT update, due in July, is set to introduce the most-requested feature by players: meaningful multiplayer. You'll finally be able to meet up with friends (and randomly bump into players) and create bases together, dogfight in space together and essentially do anything you could do in single-player, but with friends.

Now is the perfect time to get back into No Man's Sky - trust us when we say that you won't be disappointed.

Ark: Survival Evolved (PC)

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If you’ve ever wanted an open world survival game where you take on dinosaurs alongside other players, then Ark: Survival Evolved is the perfect game for you. Like other survival games, you’re required to level up, craft items and build your fortress, but where this differs from other games is dinosaurs; as well as battling dinos by yourself and with other players, you can capture them and have them as pets that will protect your supply caches or do your bidding in huge online battles.

It adds a great dynamic, as you can use dinosaurs to explore the open world by land, sky or water. Soar to the snowy mountain-tops on the back of an Argentavis or dive to hidden caves at the bottom of the sea on the back of a Plesiosaur – it’s all possible in Ark: Survival Evolved. With mysteries to solve, caverns and other points of interest to discover and an ever-changing online world, Ark has something for everyone.

Metal Gear Survive

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Metal Gear Survive takes place following the events of Ground Zeroes, and is technically a spin-off from the MGSV timeline. Essentially, a wormhole appears and promptly sucks Motherbase into its churning maw and end up in a desolate dimension where you’re forced to survive.

You’ll find new features when compared to previous MGS games, most notably the introduction of a hunger and thirst system that really limits -ahem-, that really enhances the survival experience. Your character levels up and unlocks new talents as you progress through the game, and the growing library of things to craft should keep you busy for a while.

But while some of these activities are certainly enjoyable, there is a lot of busy work required before you can progress through the story. Finding food on top of scavenging for materials so you can actually play the game gets a lot less interesting after you’ve done it for the fifth time. And when that’s combined with oxygen consumption in the dust, you’ll find yourself heading back to Base Camp fairly often to replenish your stats.

But despite the frustrations, fans of Metal Gear V will feel right at home here with the game’s tone and feel. The wanderers being dangerous up close, and a need to be more tactical makes a nice difference to other zombie titles that encourage you to hack and slash. If you’re a fan of zombie games and the Metal Gear series, you really can’t go wrong with this one.

Ghost Recon: Wildlands

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Ghost Recon: Wildlands offers something slightly different to other open world first/third-person shooters like GTA V – tactics and teamwork. Set in a huge open world in Bolivia, you’re tasked with dismantling the country’s most powerful cartel, guilty of terrorising Bolivian residents for quite some time.

You drop in as a squad of four (three NPCs or three buddies via co-op) and have the entire map to make use of. Go off-road to ambush your targets from the treeline, or get an amazing vantage point from a makeshift sniper nest a few hundred feet away. The open world allows you to tackle situations in an almost endless number of ways, from being stealthy and using the environment and day/night cycle to stay unnoticed, to going all-out and bursting through the front door backed up by tanks and armed choppers.

And the best part is that because it is an open world, you can bail out at any time and try again later. Plus, it’s always fun being chased by a paramilitary group through a dense forest with your buddies, right?

Middle-earth: Shadow of War

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For fans of the LOTR universe, there’s no better game available for console and PC than 2017’s Middle-earth: Shadow of War. The sequel to Shadow of Mordor once again sees you in the shoes of Talion, and picks up right after where the first game ended – no spoilers here for those that are yet to finish!

Like the first game, the open world is split into various regions that you can travel between. Each region varies widely in terms of environments, and you’ll find lush forestry, icy wildlands and much more. You’ve also got a bigger and better Nemesis System at play that provides every orc you meet with a personality, backstory, accent and various specialities that spice up the combat.